Help! hum/hissing noise from bridge pickup

[ky1809]

I've recently bought a Cort KX1 katana from a fellow softie (cant rmb his name but has his no), while it plays and sound great, it has some issues

it came with 2 emg81s, 1 volume knob, string thru bridge. when i turn up my computer speakers to loud volumes, the guitar produces a very loud screaming hum at the bridge position. when i play at upper registers on the 3rd string, there may be a hissing noise which isnt related to muting technique at all.
the volume knob dosent really clean up very well too

my setup is : guitar -> efx -> pc speakers

hopefully there's a way to DIY this, as im pretty broke and only want to go for rewiring at shops as the last resort. i've attached pictures of the cavity if it helps.



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[dodgethis]

Do you have a soldering iron? If yes, take apart all the connections and resolder all the connections. Get a wiring diagram from the EMG site. If you don't have a soldering iron, you will not be able to continue any further other than looking at the wiring. As such, bring it down to a shop and have the wiring redone.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

i would recommend going to beez to get that fixed at lookforbeez, roxy square 2. he charges quite a reasonable amount, you can call him up to get a rough quote first.

http://www.lookforbeez.com/

 

[relinquish69]

I suggest you call him up and deal with him again regarding this issue. The problem was not stated during the sale right? If he doesn't respond just do a search on the buy/sell forums here again for his user ID & get help from the administrators or something.

 

[Hercules]

It looks like the problem is self induced. Firstly if you play the guitar while facing a computer or TV that's turned on you will get interference. Secondly when you play guitar and face the source of amplification and turn up the volume, which you said you did, you will get feedback. Thirdly your small computer speakers can't handle the loud distortion and volume. If the administrators have to step in for every self induced problem, they will be very frustrated and busy.

 

[ky1809]

well im very sure that my problem isnt self induced, my other guitar which is a cheap sx strat copy on sss config does not experience such problems even when i play at loud volumes. i've contacted the seller, see how ba.

update: using lesser distortion, the hum rarely or never occurs, but i still wonder why my other guitar can handle such distortion without such problems?

 

[subversion]

plug in this guitar into a guitar amp & listen if the problems persist. if they don't, the culprit is your set up.

 

[Hercules]

well im very sure that my problem isnt self induced, my other guitar which is a cheap sx strat copy on sss config does not experience such problems even when i play at loud volumes. i've contacted the seller, see how ba.

update: using lesser distortion, the hum rarely or never occurs, but i still wonder why my other guitar can handle such distortion without such problems?

Because your cheap sx guitar is low output, while EMG is high output, so there will be a volume difference even if you set the computer speakers volume to be the same. Have you also tried using a fresh 9v battery?

 

[lemonade93]

is the screaming hum a very sharp scream? Cause if it is, it's the way your bridge pickup is wired, same problem with mine

 

[bf0502tr]

i dont think it has anything to do with the emgs being high output. by nature of its preamp system, the emg cancels out so much hum that it's literally dead quiet even when the gain is dimed. cheap sx copies with stock pickups(i'm assuming that TS is using the stock pickups) on the other hand will start giving that 60cycle hum when the gain is high enough since they're non hum-cancelling single coils.

 

[relinquish69]

Maybe you should provide some pictures of your pickups. Might be the height or what we can't know for sure. a visual example is always better.

You might want to consider performing an 18v EMG mod on your guitar to clean up the sound a little. However if you gain level is perpetually on max, you are back to square one.

Just curious, is your battery new or old?

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

on a side note, it's 50-cycle hum for almost the rest of the world except for america

 

[ky1809]

the problem is long fixed with a simple rewiring courtesy of SV Guitars (Peninsula). also did a reversible 18V mod and the sound is priceless.